Motorola Mobility loses to Microsoft in German patent battle

Motorola Mobility has suffered another blow in Europe, with a German court deciding it’s breached Microsoft patents.

Already under EU investigation for allegedly reneging on its FRAND responsibilities, Motorola Mobility has been found to be infringing Redmond’s IP by allowing users of its mobile phones to send long text messages by breaking them into a batch of several messages, reports Reuters.

It is to be hoped, in the legal looking-glass world of patents, that individuals who choose to do so without the help of their phone aren’t also about to get a lawyer’s letter co-signed Steve Ballmer.

Microsoft has said it hopes Motorola “will be willing to join other Android device makers by taking a license to our patents”.

The now Google-owned Motorola has, naturally enough, hinted at an appeal once it has the chance to examine the full judgment, expected on June 1.

However, it didn’t go all Redmond’s way: the German court rejected Microsoft’s complaint that Motorola was breaching its IP by using a software feature called program localization.

The international stoush between Motorola and Microsoft recently provoked a US judge to complain that his court (and presumably all the others dragged into this putrescent pettifogging pugilism) “is being used as a pawn in a global, industrywide commercial negotiation.” ®